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Six arrested in bust of Bay Ridge drug ring

Six arrested in bust of Bay Ridge drug ring

Brooklyn D.A. Ken Thompson

Drugs were called in by phone, delivered by car, says DA

Kings County DA's Office

Six defendants were charged on Monday with operating narcotics, steroids and marijuana phone delivery services in Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Sunset Park and Bensonhurst. The charges resulted from a wiretap and undercover investigation conducted by the New York Police Department’s Narcotics Borough Brooklyn South and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Major Narcotics Investigations Bureau.

The investigation began after complaints by neighborhood residents, community leaders and local politicians, and after several overdose deaths in those neighborhoods, according to the DA’s Office.

“As this investigation demonstrates, careful coordination with the NYPD allowed us to break up this delivery-by-car drug dealing network. We will continue to work day and night with the NYPD to fight drug dealing that occurs anywhere in Brooklyn,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Kenneth Thompson.

Police Commissioner William Bratton said that “cell phones are essential to operating any business, but these drug dealers unlawfully used the device as a means to distribute narcotics on the streets of Brooklyn and put money in their pockets. These indictments send a clear message to criminals, that the law enforcement community will not tolerate criminal activity of any kind in neighborhoods where law-abiding citizens reside.”

According to documents submitted in court, the long-term investigation revealed that in one case, from July 2012 until their arrests last week, defendants Vincent Alfonso, Vincent Felix and Adam Veit allegedly conspired to operate a sophisticated drug delivery service business.

Over time, the defendants allegedly adopted a convenient “one stop shopping” model, in which customers could simply call one number and order a variety of controlled substances for delivery, including cocaine, marijuana and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly referred to as “molly,” a designer drug often associated with dance parties, according to the indictment.

Authorities chargedthat after taking their phone orders, the defendants allegedly would service their customers throughout Brooklyn by meeting them on the street or in drinking establishments, whose owners were unaware of this activity.

As part of the investigation, the police executed search warrants at locations associated with Alfonso, Felix and Veit on March 11, resulting in the recovery of cocaine and MDMA and large quantities of marijuana, as well as scales and packaging materials commonly used to prepare the controlled substances for distribution, according to the District Attorney’s Office.

Defendants Alfonso, Felix and Veit face multiple counts of criminal sale and possession of a controlled substance, including Criminal Sale of a Controlled Substance in the First Degree, a Class A-1 felony, and Conspiracy in the Second Degree, a Class B felony.

The investigation further established in another case that from October 2013 until their arrests last week, Francesco Lozada and Victor Moreno allegedly operated their own cocaine and crack cocaine phone distribution service, with Lozado taking customer orders and Moreno handling the deliveries. Execution of a search warrant at Lozada’s base of operation on March 11 yielded more than four ounces of cocaine; a 9mm pistol loaded with three bullets; a .45 caliber pistol loaded with 11 bullets; and approximately $20,000, the DA’s Office said.

Defendants Lozado and Moreno face charges of Conspiracy in the Second Degree and related offenses; and Lozada with multiple weapons offenses and Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Second Degree, a Class A-II felony.

As for defendant Robert Kollbeck, the investigation established that he allegedly conspired with others to operate a ketamine (“Special K”—a horse tranquilizer) and anabolic steroids phone delivery service from September 2013 until his arrest last week. When police executed a search warrant on March 11 at a residence associated with Kollbeck, they recovered large quantities of anabolic steroids.